Too Much Trouble COMPLETE

A/N: Sorry I didn't update this one before now. I thought the only people reading it were the ones who had come here from my other archive, where this chapter (and the one following) have already been posted for a while now. But since it seems that someone is waiting on an update (thanks for the review by the way) I figure I had better get this one caught up. I'll post the fifth chapter later (only time to do one this morning) and also sort out the formatting on this one at the same time.

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Chapter 4
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Remus was curled up asleep in bed when the sun rose on his last morning at Hogwarts. Sirius on the other hand had risen early to begin their final day. Their trunks were packed, their posters and pictures taken down from the walls and they had nothing pressing to do except enjoy the final few hours at school.

“Remus?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t you want your breakfast?”

Remus opened his eyes reluctantly until he saw the tray containing all of his favourite foods waiting for him on the bedside table. “You got all of this ready for me?”

“Yep!”

Remus sat up and reached for the glass of pumpkin juice. “Not that this isn’t a lovely surprise, but I thought we were all going to eat breakfast in the Great Hall today?”

“I changed my mind. I thought I’d start as I mean to go on with the rest of our lives.”

Remus raised a questioning eyebrow as he sipped the juice.

“I’m going to be taking care of you,” Sirius explained. “We’re going to be moving in together and since you’re as crap at cooking as you are at Potions…hey.” Sirius rubbed his arm dramatically where Remus had smacked him. “Some thanks, Moony.”

“Thank you, Padfoot,” Remus said sincerely. He sat up and kissed Sirius softly. “I don’t expect breakfast in bed every day you know?”

“Every other day?”

Remus chuckled. “We’ll take it in turns to fuss over each other. Equals.”

“Deal,” Sirius replied as he settled down on the bed and pulled Remus into his arms. “What would I do without you?”

“More to the point, where would I be without you?” Remus replied.

-o-xXx-o-

Dumbledore slowly paced the small living room as Remus explained the situation to his former headmaster.

“You’re sure about this?” he asked. “Maybe Sirius is just rebelling. He has been known to do so on occasion.”

“That’s not Sirius in there,” stated Remus with a nod towards the bedroom. “He’s an impostor.”

“How can you be so positive?”

“Because the Sirius I know wouldn’t bring some girl back here on the night of the full moon.”

“He knows you’re safe though, thanks to the Wolfsbane Potion.”

“Which he didn’t bother to make for me this month,” Remus pointed out.

“You really shouldn’t rely so much on Sirius making you the potion,” Dumbledore chided gently.

“You’re missing the point,” Remus sighed. “He isn’t Sirius.”

“Perhaps we should all go back to my office and discuss this?” Dumbledore suggested. “Neutral ground so to speak?”

Remus nodded reluctantly as Dumbledore went through to the bedroom and looked at the still bound Sirius. The woman had gone on her way, but Sirius was just how Remus had left him. Remus undid the spell with a wave of his wand, but he made sure to keep the wand in his hand as Sirius got up from the bed and glared at him.

“I suppose he’s told you all about my being an impostor?” Sirius sneered. “He’s lost his mind, the full moon has sent him over the edge.”

Dumbledore looked at Sirius for several moments before he spoke again. “Sirius, think about what you’re saying. This is one of your best friends, and he went through hell last night. Even with the Wolfsbane Potion the transformation would have been as painful as ever.”

“I’ve changed my mind,” Sirius suddenly declared, folding his arms stubbornly. “No matter what you’re offering its not enough for me to put up with being groped and pawed by some gay werewolf.”

Remus frowned and turned to Dumbledore who looked absolutely livid.

“All you had to do was bide your time,” he snapped.

Remus was too stunned to take in what they were saying. Dumbledore knew that Sirius was an impostor? A moment later he realised the truth and turned his wand on the second impostor.

“I see we’re going to have to change our plans slightly,” Dumbledore commented calmly. “I’ve been in touch with another Remus, several in fact. But the one I have in mind is suitable not only because he shares our visions, but also because he has severed ties completely with his friends. Which means this Remus won’t be able to enlist their help when he takes his place.”

Sirius smiled coldly and reached for his wand. Remus sent a stunning spell at him which knocked him off his feet, but although he could disarm one of the men, he couldn’t take them both down and he hadn’t yet turned to Dumbledore when he felt the spell hit him and nothing but darkness remained.

-o-xXx-o-

Sirius had been cooped up in Hogwarts Prison for long enough. At least that’s what he told himself as he searched once more for a way out of the Slytherin dungeons. There were secret passages all over the castle, there had to be one in here somewhere.

He was in the process of searching the common room yet again when he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye, something in the lake that surrounded the underground quarters.

He turned to peer closely into the murky water and jumped back in shock at what he saw there.

He’d never taken his cousins Narcissa and Bellatrix to be particularly good at anything, and he’d never seen either of them swimming. Narcissa would rather have died than get her hair wet and Bellatrix cared for nothing that didn’t involve a great deal of pain. But despite anything he might have thought about them, the two women were indeed swimming outside in the lake, and staring right back at him through the clear barrier that separated the common room from the Great Lake. Even more surprising, they actually looked pleased to see him.

Bellatrix was pointing at something on his left and despite his better judgement he followed her direction.

Though trial and error, and with a lot of help from the two women, Sirius finally found the hidden passageway of the Slytherin quarters. He wasn’t surprised that he’d not found it before…it led to nothing but the icy waters of the lake.

The stones shifted first one way and then the other. Sirius could hear the outer passageway opening and the water rushing in. Bellatrix and Narcissa disappeared from view and a few moments later he heard the sounds of stones moving once more. He heard the sound of water draining from the passageway and then the stones blocking the inner wall opened to reveal not only his two cousins, but also Lucius Malfoy.

It was a mark of how desperate he was, that he was actually slightly happy to see them. Of course, that happiness was largely due to the fact that they had provided him with a way out of the building.

The joy of imminent escape was somewhat short-lived though. It was replaced with blind panic as a dripping wet set of arms was flung around him and his mouth was captured in a very demanding kiss.

-o-xXx-o-

Remus had no idea where he was, but he knew as soon as he opened his eyes that he was in deep trouble.

“Well, look at this,” the cold voice laughed. “Our fearless leader has finally woken up.”

Remus struggled into a sitting position as he looked at the men – the werewolves – surrounding him.

“Are you going to explain where you vanished to last full moon?” another man asked. “Are you going to explain why you didn’t answer the call of the Dark One?”

Remus stood up with a groan of pain. He wasn’t sure what had happened to him, but the spell that Dumbledore had cast had been not only powerful, but very painful.

“He’s not going to answer,” the first werewolf stated firmly. “He’s betrayed the Dark One and the pack.”

“I’ve never betrayed anyone,” Remus replied. “Where I was on the full moon is none of your business, not that I remember any of it anyway.”

The second werewolf laughed. “He’s got you on that one.”

“The Dark One will want an explanation,” a third man added. “We should take him before him.”

Remus stood up straighter and calmly shrugged. “Lead the way,” he ordered, hoping that they could not tell his voice was shaking.

-o-xXx-o-

Sirius struggled against Lucius as he tried to prise the other man off of him. Finally a sharp knee to the groin did the job and Lucius fell to the ground, clutching himself in pain.

“What did you do that for?” Lucius gasped. “We’re here to rescue you.”

Sirius glared at his cousins as Lucius continued to writhe on the floor. He didn’t turn round at the sound of a pointed cough from the other side of the room. Instead he watched Bellatrix and Narcissa as they saw the other Sirius Blacks stepping out of the shadows.

Bellatrix recovered first, cackling wildly as she realised what had happened. “So many Sirius Blacks.” She laughed loudly. “But which one is ours?”

Sirius shrugged and looked down at Lucius. “Should be easy enough to figure out,” he commented. “Only two of us are…er…that way inclined…and it certainly isn’t me.”

“That would be me,” the Slytherin Sirius in question said as he bent down to help Lucius up off the floor.

“Sorry,” Lucius mumbled, though whether he was apologising to his Sirius or the one he’d been groping a few moments before was debatable.

“Well, now that’s sorted, let’s get out of here,” Narcissa demanded. She was already turning back to the passageway. “Best of luck to the rest of you. Come on, Sirius.”

“We’re not just staying here,” Sirius chimed in, turning to the duplicates of his cousins rather than risk being scared for life by the sight of himself snogging Lucius Malfoy as though his life depended on it.

“Doesn’t that bother you?” he asked Narcissa, pointing back over his shoulder.

“Why would it?” Narcissa replied instead of answering the question. “Our marriage is in name only, it keeps our families happy, and as long as we produce an heir we can live our own lives however we like.”

“Sounds like this Sirius is some sort of homophobe,” Bellatrix sneered. “Shall I help to open up his mind a little?”

Sirius looked warily at Bellatrix who was brandishing her wand menacingly. She had different values and priorities, but the same glimmer of madness was in her eyes.

Sirius braced himself before he spoke again. “I say we all get out of here and then back to our own worlds.”

“We know a way back to our own,” Narcissa said, the unspoken words coming through loud and clear.

“But not the rest of our worlds,” Sirius added. Narcissa nodded reluctantly.

“Well, anything is better than being in here,” Sirius declared.

“You know something?” the Sirius who the rescuers had come for said. “I’m a little tired of you making the decisions for all of us. This is my family and I say that puts me in charge, not you.”

Lucius nodded approvingly and Sirius tried not to see the way his arm had crept around his double’s waist beneath his robes.

Sirius nodded reluctantly. If it meant that he got out of here, he’d let the others take charge of the situation…for now.

-o-xXx-o-

Remus didn’t know what he was expecting when he was brought before the Dark One, as the other werewolves called their master. He had been expecting Lord Voldemort, but knew immediately that this was not the man he had sometimes heard referred to as the Dark Lord.

The wizard standing before him was thin and blond hair reached down his back. He didn’t turn round when Remus entered the room, flanked by two of the werewolves who had unknowingly greeted his arrival in this new world.

“Where were you on the night of the full moon, my wolf?” The voice was low and held the hint of a foreign accent.

Remus raised his chin high as he replied. “I don’t remember. Call it an occupational hazard of being a werewolf.”

Loud laughter rang out and the wizard turned round to face him. He was older than Remus had first guessed him to be, and there was quite a bit of grey in the blond hair now that he looked at him more closely.

“Leave us,” the wizard said, waving towards the door.

The other werewolves left the room, leaving Remus alone with the Dark One.

The wizard moved closer and looked at Remus appraisingly. “The resemblance is uncanny,” he commented. “Truly remarkable.”

Remus remained silent, wondering if the words meant what he thought they did.

“You wonder whether I know you aren’t him,” the Dark One commented quietly. “Oh, I know. Even if my loyal werewolf hadn’t told me of my former adversary contacting him from another world, I would know you weren’t him. There’s no hate in your eyes, no fire. You have the same physical scars, but not the rest of them.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Remus asked. “Kill me?”

“I’m going to let you go,” the wizard replied simply.

Remus blinked a couple of times as the words sank in. “You are?”

“You will be free to leave shortly, but remember, I do nothing without a reason, and you will owe me for this. Your life is mine until I call in the favour.”

Remus watched as the wizard reached for his arm, and looked down at his wrist knowingly. “As I thought,” he said as he pointed his wand at the bare skin.

Remus hissed as a sharp pain shot through his arm, a burning sensation that made him cringe. Then he saw on his arm the appearance of a symbol he’d never seen before, not the dark mark of Lord Voldemort, but the simple symbols of a circle within a triangle, with a line splitting them both down the middle. He frowned as the symbols vanished, but he could tell they were still there, hidden beneath the surface.

“Now you will know when I summon you, and you would be ill-advised to ignore my command.”

Remus nodded. He was slightly confused but thankful that he was being released, if only for the moment. He hoped he would be safely back in his own world before the summons arrived.